With the increasing popularity of International calling cards in Australia, there are some fraudsters selling inferior quality calling cards on the market. These cards may use VOIP connections with variable line quality. Alternatively, the minutes on the cards may not add up due to ongoing maintenance and administration fees.
“Newbs” or first timers as they are known in the scamming world are the most common victims of these calling card tricks. So, given the immense amount of competition for the international tele-calling card market, we have decided to provide you with some essential tips and tricks to avoid being getting taken advantage. It pays to do a bit of research before you buy your first phone card.
Tip 1: Ask people in the know
Avoid phone card scams is by simply talking to people who often use these calling cards. Usually, they will tend to be people from overseas or new migrants. Heavy calling card users in Australia are the Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern Community. So if you have a good friend in those communities ask them about phone cards as they will probably know about a good phone card.
Tip 2: Shop and Compare
Use calling card comparison sites such as www.phonecardchoice.com.au to search by location, by brand and by price. Make sure that the site is secured with an SSL certificate before you commit to making a purchase. If you are not comfortable with ordering things online, call their customer service number on their contact us page to order your phone card by phone. They can mail or email your phone cards to you so that you can start making calls with your phone card very quickly. Payment for your phone card can be made by credit card, direct deposit, money order or cheque.
When looking for viable calling cards think about:
- Calling Destinations: if you only want to call one destination, you can often get a great deal to that country alone. This deal will not be as a good if you call a country that is not targeted by the phone card company as most calling card companies are country specific. For example, a phone card might have a very attractive rate to Thailand and another phone card might have a very attractive rate to Malaysia. However, the phone card for Malaysia will usually not have a good rate to Thailand and vice versa.
- What are online forums saying about calling a particular country with a particular phone card? Try some specific online search queries on Google for your particular need, such as“calling New Zealand from Australia” or “call Australia to Belarus cheap” or “calling Pakistan from Australia”
- Also try some research for specific calling card brands. You will find that brands such as GoTalk seem to have mixed reviews online, whilst other popular calling cards as the Omega Calling Card seem to have a very good reputation in terms of line quality, reliability and value for money . Use whirlpool forums.
Tip 3: Read the fine print carefully
Read the fine print! If you are not careful you may end up buy to a calling card that charges hidden administration fees and ongoing maintenance fees. What this means is some cards charge you a fee of up to $1 a week even though you are not using your phone card. Also ensure that your card expiry lasts at least 6 month. There are many phone cards today with an expiry period of 1 or 3 months. Unless you are a heavy user you will probably not be able to use up all your phone card credit in time. Places such as www.phonecardchoice.com.au provide moral and ethical calling cards online on the cheap. All cards on that website have an expiry date of 6 months from first use or recharge. Any expired credit that is not used is refreshed for another 6 months when you recharge.
Tip 4: Buy in Bulk
When you buy say a $50 Pre-paid calling card over a $10 Pre-pad calling card you will usually get more talk time. For example, you pay for $50 but you get $55 worth of call credits on the Omega Calling Card phone card.
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